Polls: Obama's Immigration Changes Get Broad Voter Support

President Obama talks about his decision to stop deporting some young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children.
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Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Obama talks about his decision to stop deporting some young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Early indications suggest President Obama has a majority of voters on his side with his decision to defer deportation proceedings for young illegal immigrants who meet certain conditions.

A Bloomberg News poll found 64 percent of voters agreeing with Obama's decision to order a stop, for now, to deportation efforts against young immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children. Among the conditions, young people who are 30 or under would have to have lived in the U.S. continually for five years, as well as be in school or have graduated high school, or served in the military.

In essence, the president put into place some aspects of the broader DREAM Act that has been stalled in Congress.

The same poll showed 30 percent of voters opposed to Obama's decision.

Meanwhile, a Rasmussen poll, which, unlike Bloomberg, used an automated telephone survey, roughly tracked with the Bloomberg poll. Rasmussen found that 71 percent of voters it surveyed backed Obama's decision.

Importantly, the Bloomberg poll found that a key voter bloc, political independents, favored the Obama approach by a 2-to-1 margin.

The polls suggest that if there's a risk for either presidential candidate, it would be for Mitt Romney, the all-but-official Republican nominee, and not Obama.

Over the weekend, Romney criticized the president's decision to take executive action as an election-year political move, but was vague on what he would do if he were in the Oval Office. In an interview with CBS News' Bob Schieffer broadcast Sunday, Romney wouldn't say whether he would undo the president's action.